The CWB in an Open Market

[grassfarmer]

Charlie, what makes you think the picture is any different in Scotland with regard to age and demographics? I feel mine is very much the "turning generation" - I'm 44 now and every male school classmate of mine that came from an agricultural background went into agriculture. An awful lot of their kids that are now anywhere from 10-20 are not going to enter agriculture.
Post WW11 was a boom time in European agriculture but that prosperity ended in the late 1980s. But in prior generations (1800s through to WW11) agriculture always was a less attractive career choice - the smart kids were running the British empire in far flung corners of the world while the least smart one kept the family farm going. Maybe a different picture in Western Canada given the short history of settlement.

[Wheatking]

I have a few questions
Will the new cwb be under any kind of govt
mandate or control.

Will the line companies be legislated to handle
cwb grain.

Will it be spun off as a private business, perhaps
even a share offering so capitalists like burbert
can make money off the backs of hard working
farmers.

Will they be able to buy other grains so burbert
will be in heaven.

Will their books be opened so the likes of the
auditor general can do a proper audit.

Who will be on the hook for the cancellation or
sale of two ships

[BTOfarmallll]

QGF says - "An awful lot of their kids that are now anywhere from 10-20 are not going to enter agriculture."

Good I ain't need no more Competition, I got enough to worry about as it is. Hutts have driven the price of land so God Damn High, its unrealistic to be paying these prices, but ya gotta or theys gon get itall. No Hutts, land prices would drop 40% over night......

[TOM4CWB]

GTO,'

Do you take some kind of 'pill' that causes your brain to go to mush?

Your Hutterie rant... is irrational and racist... but you enjoy this !

[ASRG]

Charlie: I fit the demographics perfectly and will be one of the ones "cashing out" within that 10 year timeframe(hopefully a lot less). The land I own is actually much too expensive to grow grains or cattle on...probably houses!
Like most lifelong farmers I will miss a lot of the lifestyle, but certainly not the cold brutal weather or the uncertainty of variable weather, crazy markets, scandalous price increases for machinery and crop inputs....and disfunctional governments that changes policy like they change their underwear!
Looking back over the years it was a tough way to make a living but nothing like what a young farmer is facing today and in the foreseeable future!
I never was much of a CWB fan or any other grand "government scheme"....but I don't have much faith in big corporations snuggling up to farmers either! The bottom line of a corporation is to squeeze their suppliers, and charge their customers as much as they can. There are no "angels" in the corporate world!
I'm really looking forward to travelling a bit and having my "day in the sun"!

[grassfarmer]

BTO, No wonder the Hutterites are running rings around you ... if you can't understand the simple concepts discussed in some of these posts...

[charliep]

Wheatking.

All good questions. On your question of auditability/financial disclosure that will depend a lot on how things are spun off. Would how the government spun CN into a private company provide guidance or a model?

[agstar77]

Do you think Viterra would move their head office to Main St. in Winnipeg? That would be the sum result of privatization.

[charliep]

agstar77

Just curious is you have looked at the CWB vision contained in "Harvesting Opportunity". Does this fit with your vision of the CWB? Is this privatization or not? Would this fit the business needs of farms 10 years from now?

[agstar77]

Interesting to note that all the" New CWB " competitors are vertically integrated. The "New CWB" would be even more of a niche player. Without the clout of a assured supply and delivery system , how would they have power over our local players to make them play nice? That is the value I see. What powers would they be given to make up for loss of the single desk. My suggestion is control over Rail shipping and export logistics.